Birds of a Feather
by Lady Honeydee
Summary: ...suffer in silence together. A drabble in which Kyoko and Ren are in Guam for the on-location shoot of Tragic Marker, and internal struggles abound in the hotel room one night.


Ren was in agony.

It was hard enough to see the object of his affection in her blindingly pink uniform, on the days when Yashiro had arranged his schedule to have a few stolen moments with her. It was hard enough seeing her on set back when he was Katsuki and she Mio, trying desperately to hide his attraction lest he scare her away. It was hard enough seeing her every day as Setsu, in her short, short skirts and low, low tops. But all of that torture paled in comparison to this.

Kyoko was naked.

Or, rather, next to naked. Ren personally didn't consider Setsu's finest ero-kawa matching underwear set to be very concealing. Something about the way the strappy, lacy panties and thin, tight tank top hugged the love of his life's tempting curves was dangerously illicit, though they technically covered everything. Only the blonde wig on her head, the gray contacts in her eyes, and the constant reminder that every moment they spent together was an act kept him from losing his control completely.

He was unable to keep his eyes on the television screen, which was blaring some sort of late-night drama rerun, when she was walking toward him like that. Kyoko-no, Setsu, glided like an exotic panther across the room, sexily tiptoeing around the leather jeans Cain Heel couldn't be bothered to put away. No, wait. She wasn't walking toward him. She was walking to her bed, which wasn't too much of a comfort since he could easily reach her with his vastly superior armspan. WIth great effort, Ren yanked his eyes away from her exposed form and turned his head away completely before he had a massive nosebleed.

"Sorry, nii-san," Setsu purred, sounding completely unapologetic. "I forgot to bring my yukata in the bathroom with me." She fixed him with a daring smirk. "I think I'll stay like this anyway. It's so _hot_ here in Guam." She fanned her face in emphasis. "That is...unless you mind?"

"You're fine, Setsu."

That was Cain Heel, who was totally okay with his little sister's skimpy outfits. It was most certainly not Ren, or rather Kuon, who was resisting the urge to either run out of the room screaming or personally make sure that she wouldn't be able to walk right for a month.

 _Easy, boy,_ Ren thought desperately. _Remember, she's only seventeen. And off limits!_

Setsu, meanwhile, had shifted from sexy smirk to adorable pout. "Nii-san, are you mad at me?"

"Uh, no. Why?" Ren was convinced Kyoko was scheming against him.

"Because you won't look at me." Her pout got bigger. Ren got tenser. "Aren't I good enough for you?"

God, she definitely had a vendetta on her mind. Ren had no choice but to turn to face the woman inhabiting his love's body once more, Cain being unable to resist reassuring his beloved sister. A strangled sound escaped his throat as he was once again greeted with the sight of her pure, beautiful, _bare_ body. She was just so...irresistible.

"Setsu, you're always beautiful to me. You know that." There it was, his true feelings-if directed at the wrong woman. He wished that he could actually tell Kyoko that, that she'd be willing to hear it. But for now, telling Setsu and hoping Kyoko would take a _little_ notice was the best he could hope for.

"Yeah, I know you have the cutest little sister in the whole UK-"

"In the whole world," Cain corrected.

"-but it would be nice to, you know, _hear_ it every now and then. It's not like you let me get a boyfriend to tell me anyway, so I have to hear it from you...right?"

This was so obviously revenge for all the times he had used his 'Puppy Pout of Doom', as Kyoko had called it, to get his way. Ren wanted to take back every single pout if that would end this torment. How could one girl be so innocent yet so enticing?

"I thought I was your 'most important man'," Ren said. He couldn't think straight with all the blood in his body going south instead of to his brain. He didn't think he sounded very convincing. If he was Kyoko, he would've NG'd himself by now.

"You are, nii-san. Would I ever lie to you?" Setsu sighed adorably.

That was the straw that broke the President's camel's back. Ren abruptly stood, his pants feeling rather uncomfortable as he fled to the bathroom. His safe haven. His sweet, sweet sanctuary. "I'm going to take a shower."

"But nii-san, you just took a bat-"

Ren slammed the door behind him and slumped against it in mixed parts relief and frustration, his hands shaking as he fought the desire to go back into that room and wipe that smug smirk off her lips with his own. He eventually straightened up again to turn on the shower, leaving the handle on cold. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

The second Cain left the room, Kyoko lost her grip on Setsu and flopped face first into her pillow. It was so hard to be Setsu, to act as someone who was the complete opposite of herself. Setsu's soul was hard to control, too: she came and went as she pleased, even when Kyoko was being Kyoko. Sometimes she would be talking to Tsuruga-san and she would have the urge to touch his face or hold his hand. Sometimes her stride would switch to Setsu's randomly as she was walking down the sidewalk. Sometimes she would be acting as Natsu and she would react to something the way Setsu would. It was exhausting to try to control her.

Worse yet, Setsu was _embarrassing_! She was all over Cain, all the time, hugging him and holding his hand and checking his temperature. All that touching was killing her heart and the empty box inside of her (which stayed open no matter how hard she tried to lock away her feelings again). And if she got so used to touching Tsuruga Ren, the man she lov-no _, respected, it was only respect_ -as Setsu, what if she accidentally did it as Kyoko? What if the tabloids saw? What if it ruined his career? What if he found out and was disappointed in her for breaking her vow of chastity? What if-

"Setsu? I forgot to bring clean shorts in here with me. Can you bring me a pair?" Cain's voice, muffled by the bathroom door, burst through her thoughts like a freight train, and Kyoko vanished as flighty, flirty Setsu took the helm.

"Sure, nii-san," Setsu sighed. She reached into her brother's unzipped luggage, pulled out a random pair of shorts, and walked leisurely into the bathroom. "Why do you need clean shorts anyway? You were wearing a new pair the first time you showered tonight."

"It doesn't matter, Setsu," Cain replied hurriedly. Setsu felt a brief flash of triumph that she had unsettled him, but that soon gave way to sisterly concern.

"Are you sure you're not sick, nii-san? You bathed, after all." She stretched up onto her tiptoes to reach his forehead. "You feel a bit warm...but that's probably from the shower. Does anything hurt?"

"No, Setsu. I'm not sick." Cain removed her wrist from his forehead testily and started walking back into the main bedroom. Setsu stumbled a bit at the unexpected movement, and then set off in pursuit, taking fast strides to keep up with her brother's long legs.

"You know, you told me that once before and look what happened then…"

"Setsu. Drop it." He turned to face her, looking her dead in the eyes. Cain's voice, usually filled with uncommon patience and love when directed at his sister, was strained and irritated, and his gaze was simultaneously steely and exhausted. Setsu backed off.

"It's only because I love you so much that I worry so much about you," she mumbled, attempting a teasing tone. It sounded lackluster even to her.

Cain sighed. "I love you too, Setsu," he replied tiredly, all anger seeping away and leaving him simply drained. "Now, you should go to bed. We have a long day of filming tomorrow." He clicked off the single lamp that had been lighting the room, and cocooned himself in his sheets.

"I'm looking forward to it. 'Night, nii-san."

"Goodnight."

In the dark of the room, Setsu released her for the night. Kyoko, heart aching and grudges grumbling over the seemingly innocent and casual declaration of affection, closed her eyes, willing herself to fall asleep fast.

Little did she know that Ren, just three feet away, was feeling the same pain.


End file.
